Earth retaining structures are known in the general construction industry for containing backfill or earthen material. These retaining structures prevent the movement of fill material. The structures are particularly useful for retaining earthen material exposed in the construction of roads, highways, interchanges and parking lots. The structures may have facing elements which may be cast-in-place concrete, precast panel masonry units, wood or metal. The facing elements are held in place by reinforcing members which are typically metal strips, welded wire fabric or other non-extensible material. The reinforcing members are connected to the facing elements and extend rearwardly into the fill material. In some applications, facing elements are not used, and an earthen mass is stabilized by use of reinforcing members only. The reinforcing members engage with the fill material by friction, by interlocking, or by a combination of both friction and interlocking with the earthen mass. Many such structures have been rendered unsafe for continued service or have failed because they could not yield horizontally to unexpected loads. A common problem causing such excessive loads is over-compaction of the soil during construction, which in turn subjects the facing elements and reinforcing members to horizontal pressures greater than those considered in the design. Horizontal impact loads are also caused by events such as earthquakes, explosions and vehicle accidents. Attempts have been made to handle these horizontal impact loads by increasing the number of reinforcing members, increasing the strength of the connections between the facing elements and the reinforcing members, and designing the structures to withstand loads well beyond those theoretically expected. Although there has been some success with this approach, it significantly increases the cost of constructing the structures. If a stabilized earth structure is able to yield horizontally without failing in the face of these imposed horizontal stresses, the system would then redistribute the stresses to the earth mass and return to a stable and serviceable condition. A structure that is able to yield horizontally is capable of safely withstanding unexpected horizontal impact loads. Hilfiker, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,343,572, disclosed the use of deformable sections incorporated into welded wire mesh reinforcing members to accommodate horizontal loads. The deformable sections comprise a "zig-zag" in the wires extending rearwardly from the facing elements. The Hilfiker invention has a number of disadvantages. First, it is operative only with welded wire mesh panels. Secondly, it is limited to relief at or near the facing element. Further, it does not afford flexibility in terms of planning for a specific design stress.